toasted fennel and lemon zest seasoning Salt

There’s something I highly suggest you do to cope with the grey monotony that is February: roast a chicken. In fact--I beg of you. There are few smells so comforting as a chicken roasting in the oven. The entire process is soul-satisfying in a way that few other things are--the prepping, the roasting itself, the eating. And then, there’s all of the things you can make with the leftovers: stock, chicken salad, etc. The whole thing just makes me feel like a fully capable, functioning human and that is exactly the sort of precedent I’m trying to set for myself this year.  2021, let’s go.

There are a million recipes for roast chicken online so, I don’t need to add another one to the ether. I use this method by Thomas Keller described here, replacing the salt used in the recipe with this special seasoning salt. The key to a seasoning salt is getting everything to be roughly the same size so it can evenly coat whatever your seasoning. The easiest way to do that is with a spice grinder or small blender like a magic bullet, but you could also use a mortar and pestle. It’s super simple to throw together and keep on hand. All you need is a fine sea salt, lemon zest, toasted fennel seed, and red pepper flakes. This is particularly delicious on roasted chicken, but you could also use it on pork, fish, or even to rim a margarita glass. Express yourself!

Toasted Fennel and Lemon Zest Seasoning Salt

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon kosher salt 

(Diamond Crystal is great because it’s a really fine sea salt.  Morton’s kosher salt is a slightly larger grain, and also works well.  I understand that literally no one asked for this, and yet, here I am 3 sentences deep on the topic of salt brand selection, so here is my final note: whatever salt you use, avoid using a really coarse sea salt because it’s harder to evenly coat whatever you’re seasoning.)

1 tablespoon pink Himalayan sea salt (replace with regular sea salt, if you prefer)

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground (they won’t grind evenly but do your best)

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, finely ground

zest of 2 lemons

Step 1 and done:

Toast the fennel seeds and allow to cool before pulsing in a blender. They won’t get uniformly ground but do your best. Grind the pepper flakes separately and mix by hand with the salt and lemon zest. Break up the lemon zest with your fingers as you mix. Store in an air tight container and enjoy! You could also add freshly, finely chopped herbs. If you do, be sure to store your salt in the refrigerator to prevent the herbs from turning brown quickly.